About the Poet

Friday, April 11, 2014

Heed the cry of the Southern child, Mr. Obama!

Photo: Reuters

I’d
assume there are many, bigger challenges you are dealing with: Russia-Ukraine,
Syria, Palestine-Israel, selling Obamacare …etc. I’d also assume the mentioned
problems are more important that the Sudanese mother and child lives. And I
know there are times when you have to do exactly the very same thing your
conscience tells you not to do…because you are in the ‘White House.’

I
know you are a humble man and you respond to issues some people may assume to
be beneath your personality and stature of presidency. However, should this
message reach you, then, I know, young South Sudanese will really appreciate
you talking directly to them.

I
don’t beat about the bush because leaders understand critical issues better
when presented to them in non-traditional methods. I don’t spare leaders when I
feel their performances do little to save the lives of innocent civilians.
However, I’ll spare you for a lot has already been said. And you aren’t a South
Sudanese leader! I might contradict myself in the process and don’t spare you
as such! Who knows?

South Sudan suffering Civilians

You’ve
already signed an ‘executive order’ to open way for possible sanctions
against South Sudanese officials, who’re obstructing IGAD-brokered ‘Peace
Talks’. Thankfully, you’ve been putting pressure on South Sudanese president General
Salva Kiir Mayardit to end the violence and bloodshed. So why am I repeating to
you things you’ve already done or are already doing?

I’m
an African man and people would assume that I would support you for who you are
rather than what you do. I’ve never been a fan of your policies but I like your
humble edge and your being as a people-person (if honest). That’s one quality I
admire. While all my colleagues were enamored by the idea that an African was
at the helm of the American power base, the sound of your policies made me very
sceptical. Sadly, some of the colleagues have now joined me in that scepticism. And that
scepticism, sadly, tells me you care little about the African Child. Well, you
do talk about them in your speeches!

Leadership
is about leading not ornamental speeches! Lead the world and save the Southern
Child!

Darfur

I
can’t say much about this because you’ve failed these people. You slept on
their suffering. Part of why the American public embraced you is your persona
as colorlessly and painlessly American; your heritage being secondary or even
irrelevant. While you are an American first and foremost, I think you’ve taken
your Americanism to the extreme and this is costing Sudanese and South Sudanese
a great deal of suffering.

With
no question, I understand being too focused on African issues can arouse the spiteful
passion of America right and give them some postprandial gossip’s flavor. Sadly
though, Darfurians have died in their thousands in your watch. They say: “We
wish Bush were here!”

And
to this day, they are still dying! Some people (and Americans) may ask why I bother
a foreign leader instead of my own leader! It’s the very same reason why
American soldiers and spies are in almost every country in the world that I ask
Obama to heed the Southern Child!

President Beshir continues to butcher these people while
activists and humanitarian voices call for your leadership in relation to this matter.As has become your tradition, you turned a
blind eye on them. The likes of George Cooleny present virtual evidence of
Khartoum’s murder machine on the innocent people of Nuba Mountains.The request to initiate a no-fly-zone fell on
deaf ears. You supported that in Libya and that makes Africans in Sudan wonder
if their lives are less that others’.

My Worry

Having
seen the way you let down the people of Darfur, Southern Kordofan and Southern
Blue Nile, I have absolutely no reason to believe you’ll do anything in South
Sudan. Over 10, 000 innocent lives have been lost, cities obliterated, over a
million displaced and over 3 million in dire need of basic needs. Sadly, you
are aware of that!

Your
envoy, Donald Booth, seems to be playing a spectator role at the IGAD’s
brokered ‘Peace Talks.’ You need to play a more practical role than the
symbolic threats of sanction South Sudanese leaders will just laugh off.

You’ve
done little to nothing in Darfur, Southern Kordofan and Southern Blue Nile.
Please don’t let the people of South Sudan down! How many more need to die? How
many more generations need to be lost to illiteracy? How many more skeletons
need to flood American TV screens for you to be practical enough? Hear the cry of the
Southern child!

President George W. Bush is regarded by the
world as one of the worst leaders America (or even the world) has ever
produced; but if you ask South Sudanese, they’ll tell you he’s ‘The Best American
President’ for the role he played in making sure the Sudanese second civil war
ended. He’s admired in South Sudan for having helped end that brutal,
genocidal, ethno-religious war; and he’s admired in Africa generally for the
role he’s played ( and continue to play) in the fight against HIV-AIDS.

You’re
admired in Africa for your eloquent speeches and for being the first ‘Black’ President,
whatever that means!

I
understand Africans will remember you for what you represent rather than what
you did! And Bush will be remembered for what he did rather than what he
represented.

Displaced
people are eating roots and leaves of plants. They are also living in squalid
conditions. That’s the job of South Sudanese and Sudanese leaders, some may
say!America is the world power and that nullifies the previous statement!

You’ve
played some role in making sure South Sudanese referendum and independence
comes to fruition; however, thousands have died in Sudan (North and South)
during your presidency. And by the way, you were just finishing what Bush had
already started!

Please,
listen to the wail and the cry of the South Sudanese mother and child!

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ANGELINA & ADUT ( A Novel)

Leadership, given what is happening now in South Sudan, and generally in Africa, fascinates me. And it fascinates me not in a good way but because of the sociopolitical and socioeconomic ills facing the African continent and most of the so-called 'Third World.' To me, South Sudan, now, is a classic case.Rebellion by disaffected politico-military leaders and repression by the government of South Sudan in Juba have stunted institutional development and leadership growth. This has made service provision almost irrelevant as political survival has taken primacy and supremacy. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE

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The questionnaire below is for the book I'm writing on leadership and the factors behind the South Sudanese conflict. I would want to know from South Sudanese and other interested parties what they think.

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As someone who grew up in war conditions and lived as a refugee for a long time, I'm sometimes considered by many people in the 'west' to be prone to (or have) low self-esteem, be poor or illiterate. Living as refugees or displaced persons, who depended on the good will of others put people in a situation where they don't think much about themselves. But that's not everyone though.

As I stood by our front desk at my place work talking about Race and Identity in relation to my book, Is 'Black' Really Beautiful?, the issue of why many African peoples in North America become so over-sensitive when racial issues come up! For many rational people, this owes its origin to slavery and racial segregation.

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April 11, 2018 - Leadership, given what is happening now in South Sudan, and generally in Africa, fascinates me. And it fascinates me not in a good way but because of the sociopolitical and socioeconomic ills facing the African continent and most of the so-called 'Third World.' To me, South Sudan, now, is a classic case.Rebellion by disaffected politico-military leaders and repression by the government of South Sudan in Juba have stunted institutional development and leadership growth.